1. Field
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus, method, and system of applying image processing to image data captured by an image capturing device, and a recording medium storing an image processing control program.
2. Background
The recent communication systems allow users, who are located at different sites, to communicate with one another through a communication network such as the Internet through communication terminals. For example, the communication terminal provided at one site obtains an image and/or voice of a user, and transmits image data and/or voice data to a counterpart communication terminal provided at the other site. Alternatively, the communication terminal at one site may obtain an image of any presentation material such as an image of a handout placed on a table, and transmit image data to the counterpart communication terminal. The counterpart terminal displays an image of the other site onto a display and/or outputs the voice of the user at the other site through a speaker. Using this communication system, videoconference can be carried out among users located at different sites.
In order to capture an image of the user or the presentation material, the communication terminal is usually provided with an image capturing device such as a video camera having an imaging element, which is capable of capturing an image of an object such as an image of the user or an image of the presentation material. To improve quality of the captured image, settings of the camera may be automatically changed based on determination whether the camera faces horizontally to capture an image of the user or faces vertically to capture an image of the presentation material. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H08-168029 discloses an image input device, which detects whether a camera faces horizontally or vertically, and causes the camera to operate in a normal resolution mode when the camera faces horizontally and in a high resolution mode when the camera faces vertically. In another example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-098485 (Registration No. 3109580) discloses an image input device, which determines a type of an object subjected for capturing based on information indicating a direction of a camera, applies correction to an image captured by the camera according to the determined type of the object to generate a corrected image, and combines a plurality of corrected images.